Sights in Massachusetts
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Spooner House
The Plymouth Antiquarian Society maintains three historic houses, but only the Spooner House is open for tours.
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Old Gaol
To see where drunken sailors used to spend the night, visit the Old Gaol, the c 1806 jail that served Nantucket for 125 years.
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Arthur M Sackler Museum
While Harvard's main art museum is under scaffolding (until 2013), the university is exhibiting a selection of works from its collections at the Sackler. Re-View includes some of the most acclaimed pieces from the university's three collections: the Fogg collection of Western art; the Busch-Reisinger collection of Germanic art; and the Sackler collection of ancient, Asian, Islamic and Indian art. Think of it as a sort of Greatest Hits.
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Woods Hole Science Aquarium
See more than a hundred species of sea creatures, including some in a kid-friendly touch tank, at Woods Hole Science Aquarium.
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Loines Observatory
On a rolling hill out of town, the Loines Observatory opens to the public for nighttime viewings through a pair of telescopes.
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Packard Gallery
Don't miss the high quality Packard Gallery, which features the paintings and sculptures of abstract artist Cynthia Packard.
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Old South Meeting House
‘No tax on tea!’ That was the decision on December 16, 1773, when 5000 angry colonists gathered here to protest British taxes, leading to the Boston Tea Party. The graceful meeting house is still a gathering place for discussion, although there's less rabble-rousing now. Instead, it hosts concert and lecture series, as well as reenactments and other historical programs.
This brick meeting house, with its soaring steeple, was also used as a church house back in the day. In fact, Ben Franklin was baptized here. Which is why he found it so abhorrent when – after the Tea Party – British soldiers used the building for a stable and riding practice. The Old South…
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John F Kennedy Hyannis Museum
Celebrates the USA's 35th president with photos, videos and exhibits.
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Massachusetts State House
High atop Beacon Hill, Massachusetts’ leaders and legislators attempt to turn their ideas into concrete policies and practices within the State House. Charles Bulfinch designed the commanding state capitol, but it was Oliver Wendell Holmes who called it ‘the hub of the solar system’ (thus earning Boston the nickname ‘the Hub’).
For most of the 18th century the seat of the Massachusetts government was the Old State House. After the revolution, when state leaders decided they needed an upgrade, they chose the city’s highest peak – land that was previously part of John Hancock’s cow pasture. Other Sons of Liberty also had their hands in building the new capitol,…
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Worcester Art Museum
The first-rate Worcester Art Museum showcases works by luminary French Impressionists and American masters like Whistler.
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Harvard Art Museum
Architect extraordinaire Renzo Piano has overseen a renovation and expansion of Harvard's art museum, allowing the university's massive 250,000-piece collection to come together under one very stylish roof. Harvard's art spans the globe, with separate collections devoted to Asian and Islamic cultures, Northern European and Germanic cultures and other Western art, especially European modernism. It should be on full display starting in 2013.
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Norman Rockwell Museum
At the evocative Norman Rockwell Museum, Rockwell's slice-of-Americana paintings come to life when examined up close.
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Nantucket Community Sailing
Nantucket Community Sailing rents single and double kayaks, sunfish sailboats and windsurfing gear at Jetties Beach.
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Mount
The Mount, novelist Edith Wharton's former estate, offers hour-long tours of her mansion and inspirational gardens.
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Bunker Hill Monument
‘Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!’ came the order from Colonel Prescott to revolutionary troops on June 17, 1775. Considering the ill-preparedness of the revolutionary soldiers, the bloody battle that followed resulted in a surprising number of British casualties. Ultimately, however, the Redcoats prevailed (an oft-overlooked fact). Today, the 220ft granite obelisk monument is visible from across the harbor in the North End, from the expanse of the Zakim Bridge and from almost anywhere in Charlestown. But only a walk through the winding cobblestone streets up to the monument’s hilltop perch allows visitors to experience and appreciate the authentic,…
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Boston University
West of Kenmore Sq, enrolls about 30,000 graduate and undergraduate students, and has a huge campus and popular sports teams.
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North End Branch Library
Pop into the North End Branch Library to check out the impressive plaster model of Doge's Palace in Venice.
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Thornton W Burgess Museum
Thornton W Burgess Museum is named for the Sandwich native who wrote the Peter Cottontail series.
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Craigville Beach
Craigville Beach is the place to see and be seen for the college set; parking at either beach costs $15.
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Tory Row
West of Harvard Sq, this mansion-lined section of Brattle St was a bastion of British sympathizers in the 18th century.
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JOJ Frost Folk Art Gallery
A historical and artistic exhibit of paintings by local artist JOJ Frost, depicting life in 19th-century Marblehead.
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Howland House
The 1667 Howland House is the only house in Plymouth that was home to a known Mayflower passenger.
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Forest River Park
Two miles south of the town center, Forest River Park has two beaches, picnic areas and a saltwater swimming pool.
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Harvard University
Along Massachusetts Ave, opposite the Harvard T station, lies the leafy campus of Harvard University. Dozens of Nobel laureates and eight US presidents are among its graduates – for other chewy tidbits join a free student-led campus tour at the Harvard University Information Center.
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Bromfield Art Gallery
The city’s oldest cooperative, this South End gallery hosts solo shows by its members, as well as occasional visiting artists. The work runs the gamut in terms of media, but you can always expect something challenging or entertaining.
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